So although Darko has had minimal impact I believe his at least being in the country is a cut above our Greecian giant.

Pretty funny and ironic comment though

Ultimately this kind of stuff will have a big impact on future drafts. That year tons of foriegn players were drafted and Dickey V was going NUTS. And although I thought he was over reacting he was right...everybody wants to catch lightning in a bottle but I think you are going to see teams shy away from foreign players. I remember Darko, Pietrus, Zarko, Boris Diaw, Zoran Planinic, Delfino, Barbosa, and Maciej Lampe or affectionately known as Magic Lamp. None of them to my knowledge has done anything note worthy and are role players at best. It seems the best high school players have more impact than these guys.

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February 17th, 2006, 9:18 am

Colei13

Stadium Announcer

Joined: March 21st, 2005, 12:13 amPosts: 66

we have to keep in mind that whatever player the pistons were going to draft, they were not gonna get an oppurtunity to play the kind of minutes they got in miami or denver for example. wade is the only guy i would have thought about drafting. carmelo is not the kind of player wanted in detroit and he would have revolted. wade is a great player, but we didnt need him.

darko did not work out, and he didnt have the desire it appeared. dumars took a shot, he didnt work out, but he knew he had that chance to take a player with great potential and it would be no big deal if he failed.

i think you need to wait on delfino though. larry brown gave delfino a small chance to contribute and he is getting much better this year. this is only year 2 for him and he's our first backcourt reserve off the floor, him or maurice evans, but seems delfino is getting more time as of late.

think about our local busts, the vaunted spartan...mateen cleaves. hardly remember him on the floor in detroit. Joe D. knows what he's doing and i think that the infatuation with europeans wont be quite as great, they will still be looked at.

no draft pick that detroit will make this year or next will have a huge impact, not until one of the big five are gone.

February 20th, 2006, 10:47 am

conversion02

RIP Killer

Joined: January 26th, 2005, 9:34 pmPosts: 10773Location: Sycamore, IL

Colei13 wrote:

we have to keep in mind that whatever player the pistons were going to draft, they were not gonna get an oppurtunity to play the kind of minutes they got in miami or denver for example. wade is the only guy i would have thought about drafting. carmelo is not the kind of player wanted in detroit and he would have revolted. wade is a great player, but we didnt need him.

darko did not work out, and he didnt have the desire it appeared. dumars took a shot, he didnt work out, but he knew he had that chance to take a player with great potential and it would be no big deal if he failed.

i think you need to wait on delfino though. larry brown gave delfino a small chance to contribute and he is getting much better this year. this is only year 2 for him and he's our first backcourt reserve off the floor, him or maurice evans, but seems delfino is getting more time as of late.

think about our local busts, the vaunted spartan...mateen cleaves. hardly remember him on the floor in detroit. Joe D. knows what he's doing and i think that the infatuation with europeans wont be quite as great, they will still be looked at.

no draft pick that detroit will make this year or next will have a huge impact, not until one of the big five are gone.

I agree with this 100%. Yeah, Darko was a bust. The guy lacked effort severly. He knew he was never going to get to play and it showed. Then again, how many guys are drafted #2 overall and are on championship teams their rookie year? Very few. Why spoil a good thing? You have 5 starters who won the championship, why change that? You don't. Darko was stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time.

______________________Fire everyone; clean house!

February 20th, 2006, 1:01 pm

pumpkinhead97

Pop Warner Allstar

Joined: May 11th, 2005, 12:59 pmPosts: 158Location: Flint

It's funny to me how people label Darko a "bust"...to be a bust you have to perform baldy and squander the minutes you have been given. Kwame Brown.....now THAT'S a bust.

We, like other teams in the league, were blown away with his personal workouts when he was only 17. Kiki Vandeweghe(Denver GM) recently said somewhere that had we not drafted Darko he probably would have at that time because of the upside the kid had at the time.

We took him before we knew we were going to get 'Sheed, and before we got McDyess the next season. Darko was good insurance to have if McDyess's knee acted up on him again, and if it didn't(which it hasn't), great.

The whole thing people are mad about is that they have seen Carmelo, and Wade become important cogs on their teams....but the operative word is THEIR teams...which were ACTUAL Lottery teams that were playing badly...they needed a franchise guy, and we didn't. He was a project that we took on to be the eventual heir to Sheed/Ben/Dyess.

I will agree that his poor attitude and sense of entitlement ultimately helped him get his ticket out of town. But we as fans should be somewhat responsible for that by applauding him sarcastically when he would go in for one minute at the end of a blowout, and always talking in the paper or radio saying "We could have had Wade, etc."

That can't be easy...Just ask Joey Harrington

February 28th, 2006, 2:28 pm

wjb21ndtown

conversion02 wrote:

Colei13 wrote:

we have to keep in mind that whatever player the pistons were going to draft, they were not gonna get an oppurtunity to play the kind of minutes they got in miami or denver for example. wade is the only guy i would have thought about drafting. carmelo is not the kind of player wanted in detroit and he would have revolted. wade is a great player, but we didnt need him.

darko did not work out, and he didnt have the desire it appeared. dumars took a shot, he didnt work out, but he knew he had that chance to take a player with great potential and it would be no big deal if he failed.

i think you need to wait on delfino though. larry brown gave delfino a small chance to contribute and he is getting much better this year. this is only year 2 for him and he's our first backcourt reserve off the floor, him or maurice evans, but seems delfino is getting more time as of late.

think about our local busts, the vaunted spartan...mateen cleaves. hardly remember him on the floor in detroit. Joe D. knows what he's doing and i think that the infatuation with europeans wont be quite as great, they will still be looked at.

no draft pick that detroit will make this year or next will have a huge impact, not until one of the big five are gone.

I agree with this 100%. Yeah, Darko was a bust. The guy lacked effort severly. He knew he was never going to get to play and it showed. Then again, how many guys are drafted #2 overall and are on championship teams their rookie year? Very few. Why spoil a good thing? You have 5 starters who won the championship, why change that? You don't. Darko was stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Conversion... you're not really being fair to Darko and his situation... Even by teammates accounts Larry Brown raped that kid of all of his confidence and motivation... From what I understand LB's philosophy is to tear 'em down and rebuild 'em, and he never got to the rebuilding with Darko... LB would call the kid names, mess with his head, yell at him, and try to beat him into submission to play LB's way... it works for some players, didn't work on Darko... There's a quote by Chauncey where he comes out and basically says what I've said here... and, IMO, it's obvious in the amount of effort the kid gave while he was here - none...

February 28th, 2006, 2:33 pm

DMorgan

Div 1 - Starter

Joined: January 10th, 2006, 6:08 pmPosts: 531

He hasnt been a bust for the Magic. He's comming off the bench and scoring the same ppg as McDyess with a higher FG %. he's also averaging more rebounds per game. It's WAY too early to call him a bust. he's 21. he's been practicing against some of the best Big men in the league. and Sheed has repeatedly said Darko has a lot of talent. He never got enough playing time because the pistons have so many good big men there were no minutes left for him. I wouldnt say he showed a lack of motivation. When he played he was only in for like 40 sec. I think he can be a very good player if he gets the right opportunity. Remember Chauncey was picked 3rd overall but never showed how good he could be untill he was in the right situation...

_________________In Rod we trust

March 4th, 2006, 10:57 pm

FutileSoul

Fair Weather Fan

Joined: March 6th, 2006, 11:06 pmPosts: 6

He is looking pretty good with the magic. I always thought that he could amount to something if he was given more of a chance and more minutes. It also helps that he is with the magic, not being under the pressure of having to perform as well as the rest of the championship team.
DMorgan, yes it is way too early to call him a bust, because he needs to play more minutes per game before you can say that, and he is only 20

He is looking pretty good with the magic. I always thought that he could amount to something if he was given more of a chance and more minutes. It also helps that he is with the magic, not being under the pressure of having to perform as well as the rest of the championship team. DMorgan, yes it is way too early to call him a bust, because he needs to play more minutes per game before you can say that, and he is only 20

I agree... He's averaging nearly 10 points per game in 20 minutes off of the bench, and something like 4.6 boards... That's decent for a recent acquisition to a team... After he gets comfortable and learns the team better I expect his #'s to do nothing but go up...

Update...

Quote:

Update: Milicic matched his season-high in points, scoring 13 on 6-of-9 shooting in a victory over Atlanta Sunday. He added five rebounds and three assists before fouling out.

Recommendation: Milicic has hit double-digit points in each of the past three games while shooting 60.7 percent from the field. His current scoring streak should give Orlando fans hope for the future and should offer fantasy owners a reason to consider picking him in next season's draft.

He's also averaging 4.6 boards per game, and 2.5 blocks off of the bench too.... Hmmmm.....

My wife, son, and me are heading to Orllllllaaaannnnndddddddddoooo for the game tomorrow night!!! Darko and Carlos will be playing against the Stones and this should be interesting.. Darko is getting just over 2 blocks per game and against Big Ben should be fun.. Billups vs Carlos, another match up to watch.. Darko with over 3 mins of playing time will be different..